The Rise of the Third Reich

On the night of May 6, 1940, London, 10 Downing Street, small dining room.

British Prime Minister Churchill was having dinner with French Deputy Minister of War Charles de Gaulle and British Foreign Office Permanent Under-Secretary Robert van Schittart.

Charles de Gaulle, the later leader of Free France, has not yet defected, but has been sent to the UK by French Prime Minister Reno to discuss the union of Britain and France - Reno has not yet given up the idea of ​​moving the government to North Africa. To lead the French navy and overseas empire to continue to resist, it is necessary to get the full support of Britain. The union of Britain and France is obviously the most guaranteed method.

Churchill is now also very interested in the union, which is the best way for Britain to legally obtain French overseas colonies and fleets. If the union fails and the French government is unwilling to move away from the mainland, then Britain can only use force to seize French colonies and destroy the French fleet.

Therefore, Churchill appointed one of his confidants, Robert van Schittart, the permanent undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to discuss the specific terms of the union with de Gaulle.

"We must fight. We will fight. We ask our friends to keep fighting too... No matter what, the British government is prepared to keep fighting."

At dinner, Churchill gushed inspiring words to de Gaulle: "We believe that we will be able to crush Kaiser Wilhelm and his evil empire. We will not change the purpose of our war. We will destroy this evil empire forever. We Never accept any offer of peace from it. Otherwise it will be a disaster for all of Europe and for the whole world. No, this evil empire will only end with our destruction or our victory."

After he finished speaking, he was silent for a while, then looked directly at de Gaulle and said to him: "This is our position. But I still hope that there will be people in France to fight with us. The truly brave French will never be intimidated by the evil empire." !”

The tall General de Gaulle looked at the pudgy Churchill and said coldly: "We French people will not be intimidated by any enemy. We will do anything for the interests of the French motherland. Of course we will resist to the end! Even if the homeland is occupied, There will definitely be people who will lead the resistance.”

The person de Gaulle was referring to at this time was not himself, but Paul Reynold. In fact, he already knew that Reno's status as prime minister was in jeopardy, but he still hoped that Reno could put aside the noisy parliament, useless political parties and the Constitution of the Third Republic that made the country weak, and stand up and lead those who were willing to sacrifice for the French motherland to continue. fighting.

"But we French people all know this fact," de Gaulle's eyes suddenly turned cold. "Emperor William is not evil. He is a Napoleonic emperor. If he were French, we would love him and fight for him. You Britain fight. It's a pity he's not French, he's German. That's the only reason we're against Kaiser Wilhelm and his European Community!"

"Yes!" Churchill nodded, "This is also the reason why we oppose Germany's domination of Europe!" He raised his glass and was about to say a few words to wish success when a secretary from No. 10 Downing Street walked in quickly. A few words were whispered in his ears. The British Prime Minister suddenly frowned and looked at de Gaulle, "Mr. Reynaud resigned as Prime Minister this evening. Now Marshal Pétain is the Prime Minister of France."

De Gaulle did not show any expression of surprise, just smiled and said: "Marshal Pétain will soon seek an armistice, but there will be people in France who will continue to fight."

Churchill nodded approvingly and said: "No matter who he is, the British Empire is willing to support him and regard him as the leader of France!"

…

"I am very happy that you can come to Berlin at a time when justice is about to return to Europe. Because the justice that will be achieved does not belong only to Germany, but also to the land and people represented by the crown of St. Stephen. Otto, I will support Your request for the Crown of St. Stephen will also allow Hungary to restore its pre-1918 territory as much as possible... That is the result of hundreds of thousands of years of historical evolution, and should not be used by a cowboy in the New World as a wrong view of national self-determination. Easily dismembered!"

At the same time, in the splendid Charlottenburg Palace, Emperor William was talking with Crown Prince Otto, the leader of the Habsburg family. Otto von Habsburg-Lorraine was the eldest son of Emperor Karl I of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was only 7 years old when the Austro-Hungarian Empire fell. His father, Karl I, sought restoration in Hungary after the fall of the empire (Karl I was also the King of Hungary), but was sent to Madeira (in the Atlantic Ocean) by the Allies, where he lived an extremely poor life. He died of pneumonia in 1922 at the age of 34. Since then, Crown Prince Otto has become the patriarch of the Habsburg family.

However, Crown Prince Otto has avoided living in Belgium in the past few years because he opposed the Anschluss of Germany and Austria (he is the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne). When the German army invaded Belgium, he once wanted to take refuge in the United States. But among the peace conditions proposed by Germany were the abolition of the Treaty of Saint-Germain and the Treaty of Trianon, which made him very moved. Especially the latter means that Hungary can regain most of its lost territory! This would definitely make every Hungarian's blood boil and they would see Kaiser Wilhelm as their savior.

So as long as William says a word, Crown Prince Otto can immediately wear the crown of St. Stephen. Even Admiral Horthy Miklós, the regent of Hungary, did not dare to say no.

Hearing that Emperor William was willing to support him to become the king of Greater Hungary, Crown Prince Otto was so excited that tears filled his eyes. He quickly stood up and bowed deeply to William.

"My lord, the Habsburgs are forever grateful to you for your justice, for which we voluntarily renounce all rights to the Kingdom of Austria and other royal lands."

Emperor William nodded. In fact, he was not worried about the Habsburg family's claim to the Austrian crown territory. Because the Austrians now regard themselves as Germans, no one wants to build a dual empire with the Hungarians.

Then he looked at Marshal Hessmann, acting chief of the general staff. The suggestion to reorganize the political landscape of the Balkans was actually put forward by Hersman. It was not because he had any feelings for the Habsburg dynasty (Chloe was very fond of the Habsburg dynasty), but because he knew that Hungary in history was German hardcore. Historically, in 1944 and 1945, a Hungarian Arrow Cross Party came to power and followed Germany to fight to the end (but if you think about how the Allies governed Hungary, you can understand the Arrow Cross Party). Since it is hardcore, of course it should be strengthened to serve as the watchdog of the German Empire and the future European Community in the Balkans.

In addition, Croatia under the Kingdom of Yugoslavia also followed Germany very hard during World War II. So Hessmann thought of taking Croatia, Slovenia (Slovenia is an Austrian crown territory) and Sibanat (now part of Serbia) from Yugoslavia, and then let Croatia and Hungary form a federation, and Sibanat would be returned to Serbia.

After he put forward this idea, Emperor William rarely intervened in government affairs, believing that Crown Prince Otto of the Habsburg Dynasty should be allowed to be the King of Hungary and the King of Croatia. Because the seats of these two kings originally belonged to the Habsburg dynasty, Crown Prince Otto was the legal heir.

The seat of the King of Hungary is now vacant, and Crown Prince Otto happens to inherit it. As long as Germany supports it, there will be no problem.

Croatia was annexed to Yugoslavia and did not have its own king. Peter II of the Obrenovich dynasty of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia is considered the king of the Croats.

But this king’s claim to the Croatian throne has no basis and no bloodline support – Peter II’s ancestor was a shepherd who led a rebellion and has nothing to do with the ancient Croatian royal family, and the Habsburg family’s Croatian throne is Inherited by blood; there is no religious support - Peter II is an Orthodox Christian, while the Croats believe in Catholicism, but the Habsburg royal family has always believed in Catholicism.

Therefore, few people in Croatia supported Peter II, and no one wanted to be a Yugoslav. Croatia and Hungary formed a co-monarchy alliance from 1102 until the end of World War I. Then the righteous US President Wilson used the principle of national self-determination, negated the 800-year history of Croatia-Hungary union, and "self-determined" the Croats into Yugoslavs.

This kind of international legal rules that disrespect history and the current situation and change a country's territory at will should of course be abolished.

"Your Majesty the Crown Prince," Marshal Hersmann, who was sitting in the fourth seat from the left of Emperor William, said to Crown Prince Otto with a smile, "We believe that the Hungarian-Croatian joint system before 1860 is very reasonable and should be restored. Get up. And we also believe that Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia (Bosnia was an Austrian crown territory, but it was dominated by Serbians at the time) also have the right to form a federation, rather than being ruled by foreigners. "

Of course, Hersman knew that the Balkans were a tinderbox and that if not handled properly, it would lead to disaster. So he didn't want to completely dismantle the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Just ask the Kingdom of Yugoslavia to spit out what does not belong to them. After solving the problems of Croatia and Banat, the European Community should also give Yugoslavia a place.

He went on to say: "Your Royal Highness, what we want to build is a community where all Europeans can live together peacefully and happily, and enjoy economic prosperity. This is a big family of Europeans, and no one should be born Being ostracized...as long as they are European and believe in God!"